The Second Proposal
by Chronic Potterphile
Summary: It's a big day for Teddy Lupin and he's all ready to go ahead and pop the question to Victoire . Things, however, don't always go as planned, and Teddy just gets into one of those situations .


**DISCLAIMER:** I'm not JK Rowling!

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**Author's Chapter Notes:**

Thank you to Carole and Julia for giving me an extension, so I could still finish this despite my crazy schedule. This is probably one of my last Harry Potter fics, as, after this, I'm only planning on continuing with my WIPs and nothing else.

No promises, though. Things will happen according to the muse.

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**The Second Proposal**

Teddy Lupin was never one to stand in front of a mirror for a long time. He didn't really care all that much about how he looked - just that he looked presentable enough. He wasn't vain by any means, though people often expected otherwise from a Metamorphmagus (and Teddy still didn't know why). But today - today was different. It was no ordinary day.

He reached the pocket of his jacket and drew out a small box. A grin lit up his face as he opened it, revealing a sleek platinum ring with a single diamond set in it. The diamond let off a brilliant sparkle, reminding Teddy of _her_ smile and the way it made her whole face light up. He took in a breath at the happiness rising in him at the thought of Victoire and pocketed the ring again.

He heard a clap of thunder and turned to the window, where, despite the darkness outside, he could see fine droplets of rain hit and slide down the glass. A streetlamp flickered on, creating an orange, foggy halo around itself and the droplets continued to fall, thicker and faster, leaving trails that distorted the roundness of the head of the lamp. Teddy smiled again at that, as he made his way to the window and traced a finger down the cool glass.

"Wish you were here."

It was a silent wish, a small, heart-wrenching desire and all his nervousness seemed to have been gone at the memory of his parents. He felt the ring and its box weigh against his pocket and tried to imagine how his parents would react if he'd been able to tell them about the step he was about to take today. He had seen pictures of them - plenty of pictures, and he had heard, from Harry and his grandmother about what they were like, and had formed his own images of them in his mind. Often, when he would do something important, he'd shut his eyes for a moment - just for a moment, and imagine with all his made-up memories, about everything that his parents would say.

Of course, no one knew about that. Except, maybe, for Victoire.

Victoire and Teddy had known each other since childhood and through Hogwarts. They'd been friends at first, and then best friends, and later Teddy had felt an undeniable attraction towards her when he was in his seventh year. Their first date had been awkward, but then there had soon been a second date, followed by many more. Then Teddy had left Hogwarts and the two years after that had been hard, but they'd managed, and had grown closer through the distance.

After all that, after more than five years of being together, Teddy was going to ask Victoire to marry him.

He plucked his wand from the nightstand and made sure he was well-groomed before turning on his heels. In two moments, he was at the doorstep of his grandmother's house. He knocked at the door.

"Teddy? Is that you?"

He grinned. His grandmother could sense him from a mile away. "Open up, Gran," he said happily. He could hear her make her way to him as quickly as she could with her arthritis, and the door flew open to reveal Andromeda Tonks on the other side.

"Hey," he greeted, bending over to hug, which she returned affectionately. "What were you up to?"

"Oh, you know," she said, leading him inside. He shut the door behind him as he followed. "I was listening to the WWN." She took her seat at her armchair. "So, what's going on?"

"Does something have to be going on?" he asked her.

"Of course," she said, "you've got that look. Tell me now, Teddy, you know you can't keep secrets from me."

"It's not a secret," he replied, chuckling. "I came to tell you about it - because you should know first."

Her eyes widened. "What is it? Good news, I hope?"

"Good news, Gran," he said, smile widening. Without another word, he slipped his hand into his pocket and extracted the tiny box. "Have a look."

Her shaking hand reached his, and she grasped the box, her other hand sliding below his and squeezing it lightly. "Oh, my boy."

"At least have a look."

She took it from his grip and opened it, eyes sparkling at the beautiful ring inside. Soon, there was a tear sneaking out of her eye and she raised a hand to wipe it. "My baby boy," she whispered, another tear falling out of her eye. She looked up and a damp, still-shaky hand reached Teddy's cheek.

He let the warm fingers run through his face, remembering his childhood days when they'd be there to soothe him, or sometimes, without reason, when his grandmother would cup his cheeks and look into his eyes, tears building up in her own.

"You're happy, right?" he asked her.

She just wiped away her tears. "You're all grown up now. It just seems like yesterday that Dora got married to Remus…"

"Will you tell me about them again?"

Andromeda smiled. "What do you want to know?"

"I _know_ everything," he replied, "but…"

She sighed. "When you have more time, we'll sit down again - you and I, and with Victoire this time, and I'll tell you everything - _again_."

He nodded, fingering his jacket. "Sounds good."

There was silence. Andromeda blinked rapidly for a few seconds before talking again. "You'll take care of her?"

"You know I will."

She sniffed. "When are you meeting her?"

"In a while," he said, "we have reservations at a nice wizard restaurant too."

The hand left his cheek and went over to ruffle his hair once. "She'll never be able to say no to you, you know, you look just as handsome as your grandfather."

He chuckled. "Well, I know she won't say no… but I'm still nervous, y'know?"

"Well, if you fumble, just remember what your grandfather did."

Teddy squinted at his grandmother with interest. "What did he do? You never told me."

"Well," Andromeda began wistfully, "I was quite shocked for a while, so I didn't say anything. And your grandfather - he thought that meant a 'no' and he got back on his seat and pretended as though nothing had happened."

"And?"

"And… nothing, I told him not to be such a twat, and gave him my hand so he could slide the ring. We got married that autumn."

Andromeda's eyes were wet yet again, and Teddy reached over to squeeze her hand. She wiped her eyes with the heel of her other hand and looked up at her grandson. "You're probably getting late."

"Not really…"

The smile was back. "Go on. Propose to her and come back so I can see the ring on her hand. Merlin knows, she'll look so beautiful…"

Teddy chuckled again. "Sure, Gran." He let his grandmother kiss his cheek lightly, and her fingers ruffled his hair again.

"My baby boy."

**~o~**

Victoire took a deep breath, her vision blurring with tears as she swept a strand of her hair behind her ears. Everything around her was a confusing mess. The sounds around her were muffled. She could feel her heart beat against her chest rapidly, almost rising up her throat. Her mind refused to process what she was seeing. Was this happening?

"Vic?"

She blinked. Teddy was kneeling down before her, on one knee, ring in hand, and a bewildered expression on his face as his hair changed colour from brown to blue to green, and then to blond - the same colour as Victoire's hair.

"Say something," he whispered. Colour rushed up his cheek when she didn't respond. He looked down. "I should have thought this through, I guess."

Victoire shook her head. "N-No… "

"What?"

"I mean… yes!"

He waited that way for a moment, and then awkwardly got back to his seat across her. "Vic… take the time you need, okay?" His eyes looked sad, as they turned a deep blue in colour.

"No," Victoire said again, putting a hand on his. "I meant to say that you didn't need to have thought this through. Because… yes, I'll marry you."

He stared at her for a straight minute. "Are you… sure?"

She nodded. "I am."

"You won't regret it, will you?"

Victoire raised an eyebrow. "Are you proposing or not?"

"But I did."

"And I said yes!"

He grinned as he pulled out the ring from his pocket. "Give me your other hand."

"No, do it properly, Teddy."

"Oh, that's nice. I just knelt down before you, and you said no!"

"I said _yes_!" Victoire reiterated.

"If you had, I wouldn't have got up from there!"

"Well, I was confused and emotional," Victoire said to him, "and who said that getting back up was a good idea?" He mumbled something that sounded like 'Gran'.

"Never mind," she said, "will you do it again, now?"

"The people here are going to think I'm a loser," Teddy said, giving her a half-smile.

"Is that what you're concerned about?"

"Not really."

"Than what's your problem, Teddy?" Victoire asked him irately. "Just do it, will you? I've been waiting for this all my life!"

"So have I - well, not _all_ my life, but you know…"

"Then what's the trouble here?"

"I don't know!"

They stopped talking, listening to the sounds of forks and knives clattering on plates. Silence prevailed between the two of them, as Victoire concentrated on her shoes. And then, a minute later, as she looked up at Teddy again, she let out a giggle.

"Teddy?"

"Hmmm?"

"Did we just fight in the middle of your proposal?"

"_I_ didn't fight."

"Oh, come on," Victoire told him mildly. "Come here," she said, as she drew him close and kissed him, feeling his soft lips against hers. "I love you, okay?" she said, when they had pulled away.

"Me too," he replied.

"I want to be with you. I want us to get married."

"Same."

"Then just do it again, Teddy. For me?"

He sighed, and then he smiled as he got of his chair and went down on a knee. "Will you marry me?"

"Merlin, yes." She said it right this time.

**~o~**

Teddy's happiness knew no bounds as he slipped the ring onto Victoire's finger. A smile lit up his face as he thought of the story his grandmother had just shared with him about his grandfather's proposal. His grandpa was a bad example to follow on romantic situations like this, he reckoned.

As he got back to his chair, though, he momentarily shut his eyes, remembering his parents, Remus - tired and worn, but happy, and Nymphadora - clumsy and enthusiastic, with her bubblegum-pink hair.

He felt a hand on his, and he realised that his hair had turned the same colour. When he looked at Victoire, she was smiling. "They'd be really happy for you, Teddy."

He nodded. "I know they would." And without preamble, he leaned forward, cupped her neck and bent in to kiss her again.

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**A/N:** Haha, I've not written anything this short in a long time. :p Hope you enjoyed! Reviews would be amazing. :)


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